CHANNEL PARTNERS —Verizon Enterprise Solutions is aggressively investing in the channel to help its partners reposition themselves in this time of “massive disruption of digital.”

That’s according to Janet Schijns, vice president and chief marketing technologist for Verizon Enterprise Solutions. She was a keynote speaker on Wednesday at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo in Las Vegas. More than 5,000 attendees are participating in the event.

Earlier this week, Verizon Enterprise Solutions and Synnexannounced they have partnered in a first-of-its-kind distribution program. Verizon technology will be wrapped around Synnex offerings, serving up a complete IT services package that resellers can position to end customers.

Schijns tells Channel Partners that Synnex’s 30,000 VAR partners will be able to resell Verizon’s portfolio. Partners have been enthusiastic about the news, she said.

“Synnex is a very trusted partner so people are excited to hear that we’re going into the VAR model,” she said. “And they’re excited about international expansion, particularly Europe and Asia Pacific, because the companies that they’re working with are international and having only a domestic answer is not the answer. Verizon has international assets in our data centers and our cloud, and our networks, our PIP and MPLS networks, as well as having a security and professional-services practice that’s worldwide.”{ad}

With half of the workforce expected to be Millennials by 2018 with “huge, trillions of dollars in purchasing power, it’s clear the Millennials are here and they’re here to stay,” Schijns said. Verizon is adding to its partner program to help partners stay relevant, she said.

That includes partnering with CompTIA to offer partners legal protection and legal counseling, as well as releasing the Rapid Response Retainer product to help partners that are struggling with security breaches, she said.

“Eighty-seven percent of executives agree on massive disruption from digital, but only 16 percent think they have the right people,” Schijns said. “And more concerning, the channel partners don’t necessarily have those people. So this is the moment for the channel partners, taking that disruption and either being in the top 20 percent who thrive, survive and reach unprecedented profit, or be the 80 percent who will be displaced by a different partner.”

When that first call comes from those Millennial technology workers, it needs to be “these channel partners and that’s why Verizon is doubling down this year, investing more in advertising, marketing plans and some very unique benefits for our partners to reposition their business in this time of huge disruption,” she said.

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